Essays on citizenship lead to $2,000 scholarships

Three Buhach Colony High School graduates now have $2,000 scholarships for their college study after winning the fifth annual Fabric of Society essay competition.

Twins Angelica and Bella Ayala, 18, who were valedictorians in June’s graduation ceremonies, are attending UCLA this fall. Mykayla Macias is a freshman at St. Mary’s College in Moraga. Twenty-five California high schools participated in the competition.

The Fabric of Society competition is sponsored by De La Rosa & Co., a Los Angeles-based investment banking firm. Students were asked what it means to be a U.S. citizen, and if our allegiance should remain solely with the United States or be part of a worldwide community.

Bella Ayala is majoring in biology at UCLA and wants to become a doctor, specializing in geriatrics. She is of the first generation in her family to be born in the United States and said it was a pleasant surprise to find out she was a winner in the competition.

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Angelica Ayala also is a biology major at UCLA and wants to follow the same career path as her sister. She said one doesn’t have to be a politician to be an active citizen. She said that in citizenship one shouldn’t lose sight of a greater group of humanity and not just our nation.

Mykayla Macias, 18, is majoring in health science. She wants to go into nursing and become a nurse-practitioner.

Macias said winning the competition was a “really big honor” for her, that it’s a privilege to be a citizen and it’s important for citizens to be aware of what’s going on in our country and the world.